Lt. Col. Peters: Ukraine Agreement 'Deal for the Sake of a Deal'

The agreement between the United States and Russia over Ukraine was a "deal for the sake of a deal" to enable President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry to get "off the hook" amid the international crisis, retired Lt. Col. Ralph Peters said.

The United States, Russia, Ukraine, and the European Union came to an agreement Thursday requiring all illegally armed groups in Ukraine to lay down their weapons.

On Friday, tensions remained, as armed pro-Russian separatists were refusing to leave government buildings they had taken over unless top Ukrainian government officials resigned, according to Fox News.

"It was a deal for the sake of a deal," Peters told Fox News' "America's News HQ" on Friday. "President Obama and Secretary Kerry desperately wanted some kind of agreement that would let them off the hook from actually doing anything."

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Peters, retired from the U.S. Army, called the agreement an "unimaginabl[y] bad deal" and said it gave Russian President Vladimir Putin "everything." He suggested Putin was now essentially in charge in eastern Ukraine.

"The drama isn't over. But the game is over. Putin's already won," Peters said. "It's a question only of how long and ugly and bloody the end game is going to be."

Peters called Putin the "most brilliant, toughest, [most] ruthless major leader on the world stage today," adding that the Russian president is dominating international politics by winning "every single confrontation with the West."

While Putin plots strategy for Russia's future "in terms of decades," Peters said Obama "thinks politically, in terms of just getting through the current crisis."

The agreement between the United States and Russia over Ukraine was a deal for the sake of a deal to enable President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry to get "off the hook" amid the international crisis, retired Lt. Col. Ralph Peters said.